What does $2.6M in cocaine look like? See what federal agents seized on sailboat in Keys
A Lithuanian man who sailed a boat packed with almost 170 pounds of cocaine from Mexico to the Florida Keys was arrested after federal agents and local cops inspected the vessel when it arrived in port Monday, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.
The boat was stopped at Burdines Waterfront Marina in the Middle Keys city of Marathon, where the sole occupant of the vessel, 32-year-old Matas Vezauskas, was arrested and turned over to the sheriff’s office.
Vezauskas is being held in county jail on cocaine trafficking charges. He’s scheduled to appear before a judge to answer the charges July 12. It was not immediately known if Vezauskas has legal representation.
Adam Hoffner, division chief for U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Miami operations, one of the several agencies involved in the case, told the Miami Herald/FLKeysnews.com that the drugs were found while agents conducted an “inbound inspection” on the vessel.
Keys Sheriff Rick Ramsay said in a statement that Vezauskas sailed the boat “from another country without checking in” with U.S. Customs officials upon arrival. That country was Mexico, sheriff’s office spokesman Adam Linhardt said.
In all, 64 bricks of cocaine were on board, Ramsay said.
Walter Slosar, chief patrol agent for the Border Patrol’s Miami Sector, said in a statement released on Twitter that the 167 pounds of cocaine have an estimated street value of $2.6 million.
Multiple other agencies were involved in the case, Linhardt said, including the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and FBI.
This story was originally published June 13, 2023 at 10:39 AM.
